Home
by Goregeous
Summary: After getting a call from his sister, Benson returns to his hometown. This means he'll have to see his family again. Characters written in humanoids. Hinted BenSkips.


**Chapter 1: Calvin City**

* * *

A/N: I miss writing.

It has been a while since I wrote something I was so serious about. I hope you all enjoy.

This was original going to be posted after finals, but seeing that it's National Benson Feels Day I thought why not. :)

Regular Show's characters are written humanoid.

* * *

It was Spring Break at Quintel Community College. Benson knew this because he had seen more of the students lingering in the park than usual. They often left their mark by leaving their garbage behind, too. On park benches, by trees, in the middle of the road, even next to the trash can they were too lazy to properly throw away their garbage. But Benson also got a clue when he saw Eileen and Margaret were coming over to the park as much as Rigby and Mordecai were at the Coffee Shop.

It was Tuesday, April 9th. Benson was in his office working on damage reports and writing up plans for park activities. They had just last week finished the Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, which should have raised money for the park's damage, but instead ended with several parents' complaining after Mordecai and Rigby screwed up. The idiots hid the eggs in holes in the ground, which were homes to snakes and various rodents. The children certainly found more than just an egg. Benson had no idea how they escaped without a lawsuit, but he had to give a refund to every parent. Mordecai and Rigby wouldn't be getting their next paycheck anytime soon.

He hoped the summer activities could raise money and cover the damage the park had endured. Perhaps Mr. Maellard wouldn't be on his back as much if he approved of these fundraisers.

Benson put his pen down and leaned back on his chair. He covered his face with his hands and let out his frustration. The numbers and the planning was so overwhelming.

He peeked at the clock through his finger on the wall by the window. He dropped his hands on his lap and sighed miserably. It was noon, time to check on his employees' work progress. He had to leave the office and write up yet more reports to add to his stack.

With another sigh, Benson picked up his clipboard and pen on the right side of his desk by his cold coffee and left his office.

Benson always started from his worst to his greatest employees. He figured if he did this order, he would be able to go back to his office little less stress than otherwise.

Benson always went to check on Mordecai and Rigby first. He had assigned the two to pick up the litter the students had been leaving behind all over the park.

After he threatening Mordecai and Rigby with the loss of their job if they don't speed it up, he moved onward to Muscle Man and High Fives. Good employees, but not a pair he'd like to be around too long.

Then, if he's is working, it's Pops. Pops sometimes would get bored and ask Benson to give him a job to pass the time. Benson would give a simple task, one at Mordecai's and Rigby's level, and something Pops' could get up and leave midway if he found something else interesting, although usually the jolly old man was determine to finish the job.

After Pops he would go and check, if it was a Friday or Saturday, on Thomas. Good kid, he is. Not much to know about him. He's too busy with college on the weekdays to really do any activities with the rest of the park workers.

Then there was Skips. He knew the older man would always get his job, or almost, done before he could move on to his next chore. Benson didn't even bother writing a progress report on Skips. He would check him off and spend no more than ten minutes talking to the wise old man before departing and walking all over the park, doing some chores himself, and writing down what needed to be fixed, mowed, or watered before going back to his office.

Yep. Just like he always does, from Monday to Saturday. Today was no different.

Benson set out to find Mordecai and Rigby at the West side of the park. Although it was quiet a distant, Benson thought it would be good to get a little exercise and walk instead.

It took no more than ten minutes, and he wasn't surprised to find that the two goofballs had not finished. He couldn't, however, believe what he was seeing. Instead of picking up garbage, they were emptying their trash bags by throwing the contents at each other. It sounded like they were fighting over a movie.

"Scary Movie V!" Rigby screamed, actually saying "V" instead of five, as he threw a half-eaten apple from his bag. Mordecai ducked behind a tree, the apple exploding on the bark.

"Dude," Mordecai peeked behind the tree. "Calm down. We'll see Scary Movie 5 another night."

"I don't wanna see some cheesy 80s musical!"

"Eileen and Margaret invited us to see 'The Blues Brothers' and we're going to see 'The Blues Brothers!'"

"We can rent it and watch it at home!"

"It's 80s movies week at the theatre!" Getting fed up, Mordecai put his hand in the bag. He felt something slimly and gross; perfect to splat on his best friend's face.

Just when he was going to throw the unknown garbage in his hand, he was stopped the booming voice of his angry boss. "Mordecai! Rigby!"

The two jumped and looked over in Benson's direction. He was coming towards them in the fashion of a killer from a horror movie.

"Oh shit." Mordecai whispered and put the unknown item back in the bag and wiping his hand on the grass.

Rigby bent down and quickly picked and an armful of recently-thrown trash and put it back in his bag, leaving a greasy dark line on his brown t-shirt. "Benson, we were just—"

"Save it!" Benson interrupted. "I can't believe it! You're making an even bigger mess than the breakers!"

"Breakers" is what the park workers called the students on their breaks and who came to the park during vacation—not just Spring Break, but anytime off.

"When I come back here, all this shit better be cleaned up. And I'd better find you at the north side in the next hour, or your asses are fired!"

With that, Mordecai and Rigby wasted no time and started frantically picking up the trash. Benson turned and went to check on Muscle Man and High Fives next. However, he didn't get very far before he felt his pocket vibrate.

When Benson took checked his phone, he saw the caller ID showed a photo of Bonnie, his sister, posing with her two-year-old girl. She'd sent Benson that photo a couple of weeks ago and made him use it as her phone ID.

This was strange, thought Benson. His sister only called occasionally, and never during the daytime.

He answered the phone, say, "Bon?"

"Hey Benny." She sounded tired and her voice sounded sore.

"Uh," he looked behind him to see if Mordecai and Rigby were paying attention. They weren't. He wasn't even sure they knew he was still nearby. Benson walked and headed to the south of the park where Muscle Man and Fives were mowing the lawn. "Hey Bon, what's up?" he said as he walked

Benson usually walked briskly, but as he listened to his sister his walking speed slowly decreased. By the time she's finished, he stopped.

His mouth was ajar, his eyes wide and staring at nothing in particular. His whole body suddenly felt numb and for a moment he didn't know where he was. His hearing senses were gone, too, for he did not hear Bonnie say good-bye and hang up. He didn't even hear Mordecai and Rigby badmouthing him from just a few yards away.

"Hey Benson!" Rigby yelled. "You should practice what you preach and get back to work yourself!"

"Yeah, dude," Mordecai added. "Checking people shouldn't be so damn hard!"

Benson gave no reply, still standing with his cell pressed against his ear, oblivious to the world around him.

"Benson?"

"Dude," Rigby said to Mordecai, a little worried that his boss wasn't chewing them out right then. "What's the matter with Benson?"

"I don't know, dude." Mordecai replied, also worried. "Benson, you okay man?"

Benson finally snapped out of his daze and put his cell back in his pocket. He only threw Rigby and Mordecai a glance and said "Get back to work" before walking away.

Benson headed off to the house to grab the cart, then half-heartedly set about finishing his reports.

* * *

He didn't check Muscle Man's and High Fives' work thoroughly like he usually did. He didn't even get out of the cart to inspect the mowed grass. He was there for no more than thirty seconds before driving off to check on Skips.

He did the same thing with Skips. And just like Muscle Man and High Fives, Skips knew something was up. Unlike the others, however, Skips was going find out what was wrong. Benson only said, before Skips could say anything, "I don't want to talk about it" and drove off, not once looking at Skips.

As quickly as he could finish his work, he returned to the rec house. Instead of diving into the numbers and paperwork like he always did as soon as he got back to his office, Benson took a blue paper slip from one of the filing drawers.

* * *

At five o' clock the groundskeeper gathered the staff at the porch to review their work and perhaps get an insight of what their chores will be for the next day.

Benson stood infront of the workers, silently marking most of the checkboxes and writing a few notes on the margin on his clipboard. While he was unenthusiastic as ever, the park workers could sense something was off.

"Alright, Mordecai and Rigby, looks like you two were able to pick up the trash all over the park and get your work done before the end of the day," said Benson. "Good job."

Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other, bewildered. Benson never compliments them. Ever! Mordecai and Rigby didn't even do a very good job on picking up all the trash. True, they covered the four sides of the park, but they only picked up the visible trash, and didn't go through the bushes or anything hidden. They tried to rush so they could go back to the house to eat leftover pizza and play video games.

"Muscle Man, Fives, and Skips, I see you pretty much covered everything. Nice job." Continued Benson.

"He hardly checked." Muscle Man whispered to Fives who nodded in agreement. This made Mordecai and Rigby even more suspicious. Skips, who was wearing his expressionless face as always, was considering a few questions of his own.

"Alright guys," Benson placed the pen on the pen holder and the clipboard under his armpit. "I have a little announcement: Starting on Thursday after work, I'm taking a two days' vacation."

"A vacation?" Mordecai questioned.

"Where will you be going, Benson?" asked Pops, who sat at the top of the steps.

"Back to my family's place," said the boss.

"Why are you visiting your family?" Muscle Man asked.

"I got some stuff to do and things to settle."

"What kind of stuff?" Rigby asked.

"Stuff. And. Things," said Benson through gritted teeth.

Sensing Benson's irritation, Mordecai elbowed his friend to keep him from asking further questions.

"I'll be assigning your work for those two days I'm gone. Skips, you'll be in charge and just make sure everyone is doing what I told them to do and try to keep things in order until I come back on Monday."

Before Skips could challenge him to the twenty questions game, Benson got in his station wagon placed his clipboard on the passenger seat, reversed, and then drove off on the park's dirt road.

"Dudes," Rigby said as the car sped away. "What's up with Benson?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Pops asked.

"Well, didn't Benson seem a little…off?" Mordecai explained for Rigby. "I mean, he complimented us. Benson never compliments me and Rigby. Ever!"

"Yeah," said Muscle Man in agreement. "And he didn't even check our work. Not even the level of the grass! He just looked and left."

"Oh dear," Pops said. He too was now worried about Benson's unusual behavior. "What could have made him act such a way?"

"Well," Mordecai said. "After Benson yelled at us, he got a call and started acting funny since."

"Hmm." That was all Skips said throughout the whole conversation. He then heard a disgusting rumbling growl behind him.

"Man, whatever," Rigby said. "I'm hungry. Mordecai, let's get some burgers."

Rigby made his way down the stairs with Mordecai following behind. Everyone started to get up and go their separate ways after that, Skips being the last to leave.

* * *

Before he went home, Benson had to make one more stop.

He was making mental notes as he drove to the Quintel's train station. Did he had any clean clothes? What clothing should he pack? Where was his black suit? Maybe he should do laundry at the house tomorrow during work instead on his usual day off.

He parked right in front of the station. There weren't many cars in the parking lot. Benson got out the car, climbed the stairs, and went inside. There were a few people inside, some with luggage or suitcases, sitting on the bench or standing, pacing back and forth waiting for their train. There was no line at the clerk desk.

Benson stood infront of the glass window, waiting for the clerk to notice him. A middle age man was doodling on a recipe card on the other side of the window. He noticed Benson after a few seconds and hid the doodle immediately. Benson got a glance of the explicit doodle, and he wasn't impressed.

The middle age man cleared his throat and said, without looking at Benson in the eye, "Can I help you?"

"Two way ticket to Calvin City." The middle-aged clerk checked his computer.

"What day?"

"What do you have on Thurday evening?"

"One at 5:45, 6:50, 7—"

"I'll take the 6:50 on Thursday."

The clerk nodded and printed his ticket. After Benson had paid he walked out the station and called Bonnie. He was in his car before she answered.

"Bon, I just bought my ticket. I'm going to leave on Thursday and I should be there around ten… Alright… Yeah… Alright, bye." He hung up to drive home.

* * *

The days came and went, and Thurday was there before Benson knew it. Benson sort of went back to his normal behavior. He was yelling at Mordecai and Rigby again, at least.

After work, Benson went back home to grabbed his packed duffel bag and rechecked if there was anything he may have forgotten. When he was sure he had everything, Benson called Skips to pick him up.

Skips had offered Benson to give him a ride to the train station to save him from riding the bus. Benson waited outside his apartment for Skips' van. He didn't have to wait long.

Skips pulled up in front of him. Benson got in and threw his duffel bag in the back between the front seats before Skips drove off.

"You're going a lil' bit too early, don't cha think?" said Skips.

Benson took out his cell to look at the time, since Skips' radio didn't have one. It was 5:11.

"Well," he said, as he put his cell back in his jacket's pocket. "At least I know I won't be late."

"You wanna stop by somewhere? Get some donuts maybe?"

"Mmm."

"Come on." Skips persuaded him. "We got plenty of time."

"Yeah, but people are getting out of work—"

"We'll beat traffic. Come on, my treat."

Well, he thought, if he's paying, "Alright, sure."

* * *

As Skips promised, they were sitting in the parking lot at the Quintel train station before six, with donuts and coffee. Skips suggested that Benson stayed in the van until his train was near, with which Benson happily agreed. Benson had given Skips a piece of folded line paper with the name of the inn, its address and its phone number in case it was an emergency and Benson couldn't answer his cell. Skips didn't think he'll need to call Benson while he was away, but he took it anyways. They finished their coffees and donuts and talked for the next half hour, but eventually their conversation died down.

"Do you want me to pick ya up on Sunday?" Skips said, to fill the silence.

"Uh, that would be nice, but I probably will be back after midnight. I could take the cab if you can't—"

"I don't mind."

"Oh. Okay, well then it's settled. I'll call you when I need to be picked up."

"Hmm." No words were exchanged after that. The car radio was the only thing that filled the silence with classic rock. When the DJ interrupted the song towards' its end, just under a minute after Benson and Skips' last conversation, Skips spoke again. "So, who died?" he said.

"What?" Benson was now alert and looked at Skips.

"Was it a friend? Relative?"

"How did you…" Benson chuckled and shook his head and looked away from Skips. "Of course, you know everything."

"You weren't acting like yourself lately." Skips explained. "You hardly checked on everybody's work, looked distant, not to mention you made some accounting errors when I went to your office."

"What?" Benson shouted as he twisted his head towards Skips. "Fuck, I'm screw—"

Skips held his hand up, silencing Benson immediately. "Relax, I fixed 'em for ya."

Benson slumped back down on the passenger seat and sighed. He felt so lucky to have a guy like Skips. He didn't need another reason for Mr. Maellard to yell at him when he came back.

"Thanks Skips. You're the best."

"Eh, don't sweat it."

Benson looked back at Skips and smiled. "So, that's how you could tell? My screw up with numbers and not checking on you guys?"

"There was one more piece to the puzzle. Mordecai said you got a call during work. He said after that you started acting funny… So, who was it?"

"Huh?"

"Who died?"

"Oh," Benson remembered the conversation and looked away from Skips. "Uh, my mother."

It was quiet again, for only a short period, 'til Skips said "My condolences."

Benson nodded and said. "I never knew she was sick. Nobody even called to tell me she was in the hospital."

"How did it happen?"

"Stroke."

"Oh, well, Benson, those can happen suddenly. Sometimes it can take five times, sometimes it can only take one."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You know," Skips began. "If you had told me, I would have gone with you."

Benson looked at Skips again, who was now looking back. Benson smiled and said "Now don't get any hard feelings, Skips." He joked. "Even if I told you, I need someone to watch the park."

"I don't think Muscle Man is a bad idea." Skips argued.

"Mmm, he's not, but you're better."

Skips chuckled. "Understood, but is that the real reason why you didn't say anything?"

Benson said nothing.

"Benson?"

Benson sighs and averts his eyes to his feet, anywhere but Skips. "…My family is… Look, my sister will be there with her husband and kids. And my dad…and my aunt…and—"Benson was interrupted by the train whistle, heard from a far distance.

"Oh Christ."

Benson opened his door and grabbed his duffel bag. He slid the door close and was going to closed the passenger's door when a thought suddenly sprung up. "Hey, what were you doing in my office anyways?"

"I picked you up last night, remember?"

…Oh, right!

It had become something of an occasional routine that happened when Benson was overloaded with work. He'd take a nap in his office until Skips came by to wake him up. At first, Skips would drive him home in case he didn't bring his car, but they had become so frequent that Skips invited Benson to spend the night at his garage on the couch. Half the time, Benson wasn't fully wake up. He'd remember resting his head on the hard polish wooden desk and wake up on a fluffy cushion pillow with a nice comfy sheet covering him.

Benson smiled, and Skips returned it.

They heard the train whistle again, closer and louder. Benson quickly said "good-bye" before closing the door and running inside to the station platform. The train came under fifteen second. It stayed for just a minute after its passengers board the train before taking off.

Skips was just about to turn on the car when he saw the folded note in the holder. He took it out and read it, seeing the name of the inn, its address and phone number. After a couple of minutes of thinking, Skips got out of the van, went inside the station, and stood at the clerk's window. There he purchased a train for Calvin City on Saturday evening from a middle-age male clerk drawing an obscene doodle on a recipe.

* * *

**Reviews are very appreciated!**

Also, if you squint, you might have notice I made a TWD reference. Haha!


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